OpenAI is providing access to its ChatGPT product to US federal agencies at a nominal cost of $1 a year as part of a push to get its AI chatbot more widely adopted.

In a major shift, the company is “open sourcing” two A.I. systems, freely sharing the technology with outside researchers and businesses.

OpenAI says ChatGPT isn’t designed to keep you chatting anymore — it’s now focused on helping you finish tasks faster and use it only when needed.

OpenAI’s new open-weight models are gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b. The smaller model, gpt-oss-20b, can be run on a consumer laptop or powerful phone.

It’s the first such models it’s launched in over five years, as pressure in the US grows to respond to China’s dominance in open models.

OpenAI is in early talks about a potential sale of stock for current and former employees at a valuation of about US$500bil, people briefed on the investment discussions said, marking an enormous gain in value for the artificial intelligence leader.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI is in early-stage discussions about a stock sale that would allow employees to cash out and could value the company at about $500 billion, a source familiar with the matter said.